Tales of Mycologia
by DrPikachu
Summary: When a bright light interrupts Princess Peach's birthday party, she and the Mario Bros. investigate, not knowing that it will lead to their greatest adventure yet...
1. Prologue

___The "Tales" title ©Namco and Mario characters ©Nintendo. I own none of this, except the story itself, of course._

_Once upon a time, there was a prosperous kingdom filled with peace and happiness. An alien invasion, however, destroyed the peace and happiness and the kingdom fell into chaos and despair. Then, four heroes of red and green traveled through time and space to stop and defeat the vicious invaders. Peace and order reigned throughout the land once again. _

_Until one day…_

* * *

"Mario!"

"Hey, wake up, bro!"

"All right, you asked for it!"

SWOOSH!

THUD!

"Ow…"

Mario grimaced as he opened his eyes. He saw that he was on the floor and his bed covers were in disarray. Once again, Luigi had pulled out the covers, causing Mario to fall to the hard, cold floor.

"How do you sleep that deep?" asked Luigi.

"No idea, I just do." replied Mario as he looked at the Fungus Clock. "Why did you wake me up at 5:30 in the morning!"

"Uh, you told me yesterday that we needed to get up early, remember?"

"I did?" said Mario, confused.

"Uh, yeah," answered an annoyed Luigi. "Today's the Princess's birthday party, remember?"

It was then that Mario really woke up.

"WHAT? PEACH'S PARTY IS TODAY?" He got up, in and out of the bathroom faster than Shy Guys on sugar highs.

"How did you get dressed in the bathroom?" asked Luigi.

"The power of coffee." said Mario.

"But…never mind…"

Luigi went off to start cooking breakfast.

* * *

After a while, Luigi had breakfast ready.

"Mario! Come get your Goomnut pancakes!"

"Mario! Breakfast!"

"Arrgh…" grumbled Luigi as he took the plate of pancakes and went upstairs where Mario was running around, as if looking for something.

"Looking for something?"

"Yeah." said Mario. "Where's the birthday present?"

"You mean the one we got three months ago? Dunno."

"You didn't get it with me! You said you had to go somewhere. What have you been doing the last few months? You leave early, and you come back late at night. Is this about Daisy?" Mario asked.

Luigi ignored Mario and left the pancakes nearby then went back downstairs.

* * *

Mario resumed looking for the birthday gift. He looked under his bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, even in the plumber's toolbox, but there was no sight of the gift. Mario trudged back upstairs.

"Oh, man…I'll never find that gift…" he said as he started eating the pancakes and sat down on Luigi's bed when he heard something.

"Oh, yeah! Now I remember what I did with it! I put the gift under Luigi's bed because he's too afraid to look under there! No wonder he forgot where it was!"

He then looked under Luigi's bed to find the gift!

"Hey, Weege! I found it!"

Luigi came running upstairs.

"Where'd ya find it?" he asked.

"Under your bed."

"Whoa!" Luigi exclaimed. "You got it from that vicious beast down there?"

"…Weege, there are no monsters under your bed." Mario said.

"Yes, there are."

"Well…" said Mario. "…at any rate, we better head over to the castle."

"Yeah, you're right." agreed Luigi.

The Mario Bros. left the house and jumped down the Warp Pipe that led to Toad Town.

_Fun Fact:_ _Mycologia is a play on the word mycology, the study of mushrooms. _


	2. Party at Toad Town

Mario and Luigi emerged from the Warp Pipe near the Toad Town gate.

"Still got the gift?" asked Luigi.

"Yep."

Toad Town: The Royal City

Toad Town was a beautiful place to live. It was also the largest city in the Mushroom Kingdom. A myriad of people lived here, from Toads to Goombas to Koopas to Shy Guys and even the occasional Boo. Most of the town was empty because the residents had already left to go to the birthday party.

"Kinda quiet and eerie…" said Mario.

"And scary…" said Luigi as he started to shake with fear.

"C'mon, Weege, get a hold of yourself!"

Before long, they were at the castle. As beautiful Toad Town is, it was nothing compared to Princess Peach's Castle. The castle was magnificent, with lush green fields, a beach, a huge moat and waterfall, and above the entrance was a stained glass window of the Princess herself. But, since the Mario Bros. have been here frequently, they had long stopped gaping at its majestic power. The inside was just as elegant, with three very well-adorned floors, a massive basement, and more rooms and doors as a millionaire's mansion.

"You go on ahead and deliver the gift to the Princess. I'll stay down here. Be sure to say hi to her for me!" said Luigi.

"Will do." replied Mario. "She knows you're afraid of heights."

All Mario got as a reply was a glare from Luigi.

Mario walked up the stairs to the second floor. He was about to go up again when someone stopped him.

"Oh, I say! Master Mario!"

Mario turned around to see Peach's longtime butler and caretaker, Toadsworth. He was a rather old Toad with fancy dress and a wooden cane to help him around.

"Oh, hi, Toadsworth. Have you seen the Princess?" asked Mario.

"As a matter of fact, I have, Master Mario!" replied the old Toad. "She's upstairs in the clock room."

"Thanks. I have to give her this gift for her birthday."

"Oh, ho! Is that so? Well, farewell, Master Mario! May we see each other again soon!"

Mario saw Toadsworth waddle off, then he walked up the stairs to the third floor. Then he entered the clock room to find Princess Peach Toadstool.

Mario didn't know why, but his heart always skipped a beat whenever he saw or heard anything about the Princess. Her voice sounded so pure and enchanting, and he thought she was more beautiful than a 12-course helping of his favorite pasta.

"Oh, Mario! You came! I was so worried that you'd never show up!" exclaimed Peach, obviously relieved.

"I brought you a present." said Mario.

"Aw, that's so sweet! Thank you!" she said as she opened it to find a parasol. "How thoughtful! I lost my parasol a while ago. Thanks!"

"Um…" said Mario, blushing. "…do you want to go back downstairs and say hi to Luigi?"

"Oh, I'd love to!"

The two then walked out of the room back downstairs.


	3. The Light

Mario and Peach were about to reach the stairs going down to the first floor when, all of a sudden, they were blinded by an incredibly bright light.

"What was that!" said Mario, rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know," replied Peach as she blinked to attempt to regain her vision. "But we should see if Luigi's OK."

"Good idea…if we could see the door…"

Fortunately, after a while, the two were able to see again and headed downstairs to find Luigi with a punch bowl on his head.

"What happened to you?" exclaimed Peach.

"Let's just say, I would make a bad blind man." moaned Luigi underneath the bowl.

A Toad then ran in, banging into everything and everybody as he went.

"Princess! PRINCESS!" the Toad screamed as he rammed into a Yoshi.

"What's wrong?" asked the Princess.

"There was a strange bright light that blinded everyone. Some people think it came from Star Hill, near Shooting Star Summit!"

"Well, let's go see if that's true or not!" Peach said as she started to leave.

"NO! Princess, don't!" yelled Toadsworth as he hurried to Peach's side. "It's much too dangerous! This is obviously a plot by that fiendish Bowser! What if you get kidnapped! You must stay here! Please! I beg of you! Send Master Mario to handle the matter!" he pleaded.

"Fine, fine! You never let me do anything…" Peach grumbled. "Mario, will you handle this, please!"

"Sure, no prob!" said Mario, ready for another adventure!

"What about me?" asked Luigi.

"I'm sorry, Master Luigi, but I'm afraid to endanger anyone else. Please, let Master Mario take care of this." said Toadsworth.

_No fair! _thought Luigi. _Mario gets to do everything! I'm sick of "holding the fort!" I want another real adventure! Especially nothing that involves a haunted mansion!_

"Don't worry, Weege!" reassured Mario. "I'll be right back. Maybe next time, huh?"

Mario walked out of the castle and headed north to Star Hill and Shooting Star Summit.

A few minutes passed, and Toadsworth started yawning.

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Toadsworth. "My old age is certainly starting to catch up with me! I must be heading off, yes?" he said as he sleepily walked up the stairs.

Luigi looked to see that Toadsworth was out of sight, then walked over to the Princess.

"C'mon, let's go!" Luigi whispered.

"Go where?" asked Peach.

"Keep your voice down!" he whispered. "Go where? To Star Hill, of course! You wanted to go there, right?"

"Yes…" she said quietly. "But what about Toadsworth?"

"He went to take a nap, remember? Now, let's sneak out of here and help Mario!"

"OK!" she said.

The two tiptoed their way to the door. After they got out, they still walked fairly slowly and quietly. Once they started to see stars on the ground, they started to pick up speed. Before they knew it, they were at Star Hill.

Star Hill was aptly named, because there were stars everywhere. The ground sparkled, and every once in a while, a shooting star soared across the sky. This was the realm of Star Haven and the Star Spirits. Luigi had been here once before, with Mario and their baby selves from the past, when they were trying to find a way to defeat the Shroobs.

"This place is so beautiful…" Peach said as she looked around in amazement.

"Yeah," said Luigi. "Hopefully we don't run into any…"

It was then she heard a shriek from the Princess. He quickly turned around to find Peach tied up, gagged, and held up by two Goombas, who were dancing with glee.

"…Monsters."


	4. Luigi, the Magical Plumber!

_After going over what I have planned for the story, I have decided to change the overall storyline. This storyline would end up screwing up the whole Mario catagory, so, I switched the story's home from Mario to Game Crossovers. You'll see why soon enough._

* * *

Luigi couldn't believe his luck. First, Mario didn't believe him that there were monsters under his bed. Next, he got blinded by that light and got a sticky, fruit-smelling shower and a new hat in the form of a fairly full punch bowl. Then, Mario went to Star Hill without him and he and Princess Peach had to sneak out of the castle without waking up Toadsworth. And now, Peach was about to be kidnapped…again.

Luigi wasn't going to take this. This time, he was going to save the day. He was going to save the Princess! He pulled out his hammer and looked at it. _All right, Luigi, _he thought. _Time to see if those lessons paid off! _He held his hammer high, swung it around a few times, and yelled "FIREBALL!" and swung it down.

Several red and green fireballs shot out of the hammer. The fireballs hit one of the Goombas, setting it aflame. It dropped the bottom half of Peach and started running around frantically. Luigi then squashed the Goomba with a simple stomp.

The other Goomba looked at its fallen friend with sadness and then glared at Luigi and charged at him. Luigi was ready to burn this one, too. But before it could reach him,the Goomba was whacked and sent flying. Princess Peach had used her parasol as a makeshift golf club and sent the Goomba packing.

"Whoa! Nice shot, Princess!" said Luigi. "Guess the Toadstool Tour really paid off!"

"Thanks. How did you do that?" asked Peach.

"Do what?"

"That fireball attack; how were you able to use multiple fireballs? I thought you and Mario couldn't do that!"

"Oh," said Luigi. "You see, while Mario and I were shopping for your birthday present three months ago, I saw this poster that read, 'Hey, you! Want to learn magic tricks? Come on down to the sewers near the west side of town. Free lessons!' When I saw that, I purposefully lost Mario and did what the poster said…"

* * *

"H-hello?" called Luigi. "A-a-anybody there?" He was starting to have second thoughts on this whole magic lesson thing.

"Finally, a customer!" said a voice.

Luigi jumped in surprise and looked out toward the source of the voice. It was a person in a blue robe.

"W-who are you?" Luigi asked.

"Ah, it **has** been long, after all. I figured that you would have remembered me." said the person.

"Who the heck are you?"

"I am the one who kidnapped you as a baby long ago," the person said. "You and your brother defeated me back at Yoshi's Island along with two other similar-dressed mustached men, one of which, in particular, you now look like. Could it be?"

"Could it be what?"

"The green mustached man from so long ago…was that the Luigi from the future? The one I also hypnotized?"

"Hey!" Luigi realized. "You're that Kamek guy! Bowser's babysitter! And the hypnotist from Little Fungitown!"

"I WAS NOT HIS BABYSITTER! Anyway, yes, I am Kamek, and I was a hypnotist." Kamek said, proudly. But his expression dimmed. "But, sadly, hypnotists are a dying breed, and a low-paying breed at that. Now, I have to revert to roaming these dank sewers. What do you want?"

"Uh, there was a poster on free magic lessons…"

"Ah, yes! The poster! Come, I shall teach you the ways of the Magikoopa…"

"Wait a sec…what about the rabbit-in-the-hat trick? Aren't you gonna teach me stuff like that?" asked Luigi.

"Sorry, but no. Now, hurry up! We can't waste any time!" Kamek disappeared into the shadows. Reluctantly, Luigi followed.

* * *

"…And so, for three months, Kamek taught me various things, such as the casting motion, calling out the spell, and of course, magic spells. At the end of the final lesson, he gave me this," and he held up his hammer. "And he said, 'Although you had some difficulty, you have done well. I shall give you your own magic wand. Now, go, and use your knowledge well.' Apparently, the magic wand's inside the hammer."

"Wow, that's so cool, Luigi…" said Peach. "I actually stayed awake this time!"

"…"

* * *

_I know this chapter's short, but I had to come up with something quick to change the story's catagory. Plus, this kinda covers why Weege uses magic, that way I won't have to read reviews like "OMGZ WY DOEZ LUGI HAF MAGIK WTC!1?1". So, yeah. The next chapter will be much longer, I promise!_


	5. An Old Enemy, A New Friend

After resting a while, Luigi and Princess Peach started their ascent on Star Hill. It was fairly easy getting to the top, because any enemies they encountered were defeated by Peach's parasol and Luigi's magic. Luigi even learned a new spell, Shower, which drenched its targets in damaging water. Along the way, however, Luigi got ganged up by a group of baddies and got badly injured.

"Ow…" Luigi moaned as he fell down for the fifth time.

"Luigi, you must rest! You can't walk like this!" said Peach, worried.

"Don't worry, Princess," said Luigi. "I'm fine. I just let my guard down at the wrong time, that's all…"

"Oh, Luigi, you're so stubborn! This is so unlike you…here, take this."

Peach handed Luigi a Mushroom. At first, Luigi wouldn't take it, so she promptly held his mouth open and shoved it down his throat. Luigi felt the Mushroom's healing properties get absorbed into his body, magically healing his wounds.

"T-thanks, Peach…" said Luigi.

With Luigi good to go, they finally reached the top of Star Hill, but just when they were about to go to Shooting Star Summit, however…

BUMP!

"Ouch!" Luigi had ran into something. "Hey!"

"It must be some sort of barrier," said Peach. "Perhaps something around here can dispel it…"

"You mean we have to find it?"

"Yeah, I haven't had much luck, either." said Mario.

"Mario!" Luigi cried. "You're here!"

"Outta the way, losers!" yelled a voice.

"Who's that?" Peach questioned.

Two things clad in red and white stopped in front of the three friends. They had black "X"s on their bellies and they also made a "X" symbol with their hands.

"Oh, man…" moaned Mario.

"X-X-X-Nauts!" Peach shrieked.

"And where there's X-Nauts…" said Mario.

The two X-Nauts parted, allowing a larger one to come into view. This one, however, had a black shirt and boots, a red cape, a purple Viking-esque hat and pants, and the "X" on its torso was white.

"…Crump can't be far behind."

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! That's LORD Crump to you, Mustachio!" said Lord Crump. "We're here for the Princess, so you and Greenie skedaddle, got it?"

"Um…it's…Luigi…" Luigi mumbled.

"Not a chance!" yelled Mario. "I kicked your butts before, I can do it again! Get ready, guys!"

Luigi lifted up his hammer and Peach tightened her grip on the parasol.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna go down, eh? Oh, well. It's your funeral. X-NAUTS!" Lord Crump called. "PUNISH THEM!"

The entire X-Naut squadron charged at our three heroes. The first X-Naut met the receiving end of Mario's hammer. He also kicked another one and stomped another. Luigi was trying to balance attacking with his hammer and his magic. Luckily, Peach was able to alternate between beaning X-Nauts with her parasol and throwing Mushrooms to heal the Mario Bros.

After a while, it became obvious that Mario was the primary target of the X-Nauts. Suddenly, one of the X-Nauts gave a signal and they all started to pile up on Mario. Luigi and Peach frantically attacked the pile to free their friend, but then, the pile started spinning! Finally, the pile exploded, X-Nauts flying everywhere. And in the middle was Mario, holding not one, but **two **hammers! This plumber really meant business.

Lord Crump realized that his X-Nauts weren't enough to stop the Mario Bros. and the Princess, so he decided to enter the fray.

"Don't fret, guys, the smackdown has just begun!" Crump yelled.

Crump then charged at Mario. Mario was ready to sidestep out of the way…

WHACK!  
Suddenly, all that Mario could see was something green with spikes. As he stepped back, he noticed it was a shell. His nerves tensed due to the fact that he knew that shell all too well. When the shell turned around, his worst fears were confirmed: the shell indeed belonged to his arch-nemesis, Bowser, the King of the Koopas, the Master of Mayhem, the Boss of Bwahaha.

"Oh, man, not Bowser, too!" whined Luigi. "Is today Kidnap the Princess Day or something?"

"We can take both of them!" Mario said encouragingly.

"Just stay outta my way." said Bowser.

"Huh?"

"What, you deaf? I said, get back! This is between me and Crumpet!"

"Hey! I'm not that fancy-schmancy Y-Naut leader!" Crump yelled. "I'm gonna have some turtle soup!"

The two bigwigs then started fighting. Crump body slammed Bowser, but he landed on the Koopa King's shell and bounced around in pain. Bowser saw his opportunity, and scorched Crump with a blast of his lethal fire breath. Crump, now charred to a crisp, threw some strange object at Bowser. The object released an equally strange cloud of gas that encircled Bowser.

"Huh? What the-"

But for some reason, Bowser didn't get to finish his sentence. When the gas subsided, the reason became obvious. Bowser was now encased in a block of ice.

"Buh! Buh! Buh huh huh! How do ya like them apples, Tubby the Turtle?" Crump taunted.

"Oh, no!" Peach cried out. "We should help him!"

"What! No way!" disagreed Luigi. "He was going to kidnap you! I say we get outta here!"

"Please, Mario? He needs our help!"

Mario then thought for a few seconds. After that, he opened his eyes.

"Peach is right. We need to help Bowser, regardless if he's our enemy or not. Crump's the real enemy here." explained Mario.

"Arrgh! No one listens to me!" Luigi whined.

"Now…" Crump schemed. "How about if we go for a ride back to the Moonbase? That sound good? Oh, that's right! You're frozen! You don't care! And neither do I! Buh huh huh!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, care about this!"

Crump turned around to find out who said that, and found out that Mario had sneaked up on him. The plumber lifted up both hammers, like he was using two golf clubs. He then swung his dual hammers and dealt a double uppercut. Lord Crump went sailing and landed on his head with a crash.

"Ouchie…great," Crump winced. "Now I have to worry about two hammers now! Drat! X-Nauts! We retreat for now! And with that…POW! I'm gone!"

Lord Crump left with the remaining X-Nauts that were still conscious.

"We did it!" said Peach. "We drove off the X-Nauts!"

"We make an awesome team, don't we?" Luigi asked.

"Yes, we do, but what about Mr. Stiff here?" said Mario as he motioned over to the still-frozen Bowser.

"Oh, yes. Maybe Luigi can thaw him…" Peach wondered.

"Leave it to me!" said Luigi encouragingly. "Even though I still don't think that this is a good idea…"

Luigi then got ready to cast Fireball on Bowser. He was having many second thoughts on this. After all, the Mario Bros. and Bowser are sworn enemies! But then he figured that since Peach was so magnanimous and Mario was on her side, he didn't have much choice if he wanted to keep traveling with them.

After some hesitation, Luigi pointed the hammer at Bowser and yelled, "Fireball!"

Red and green fireballs shot out from the hammer and encircled the block of ice. After a few seconds, the fireballs dissipated, and Bowser was free from his icy prison, but unconscious.

"OK, I thawed him. Can we go now?" Luigi begged.

"We still can't leave him like this," said Peach. "I'll give him a Mushroom."

Peach force-fed Bowser a Mushroom. Several seconds later, Bowser's eyes slowly opened.

"Gwuh? HEY! THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT! NO ONE CHEATS THE KOOPA KING!" Bowser screamed.

"Ow…my ears…" Luigi moaned.

"What? Where'd he go?" Bowser said, looking around for his adversary.

"He already left," said Peach.

"Oh, well. If I can't kick that X guy's butt, I can always kidnap you!"

"Hey, hold it!" Mario yelled. "We took the time to save your life, and **this** is how you repay us?"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Luigi freed you from that block of ice, and Peach healed you with a Mushroom." Mario exclaimed.

"Oh, please! I was gonna break out of that thing anyway! You just made things easier!" retorted Bowser.

"Riiight…" Mario said sarcastically.

"And who is Luigi anyway?"

"Um…that would be me." Luigi mentioned.

"What? Your real name is Luigi?" said Bowser. "Bwa ha ha ha! That's ridiculous! You seem more like a Manky Kong or Ridley or something…you're a funny guy, Green 'Stache!"

"…it's Luigi." Luigi muttered.

"You know what? I was going to leave you morons, but since Green 'Stache can't even remember his own name, I think I'll go and kill some time with you three. Just to make sure Green 'Stache doesn't get Peach killed."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" said Peach.

"He just wants you alive so he can kidnap you." Mario warned. "But, what the heck? We could use the extra firepower. Welcome to the team, Bowser!"

"I'm not 'part of the team', understand? I'm not now, and I never will be!" said Bowser.

"Whatever. C'mon, guys, let's see if we can find that thing."

As the Mario Bros. and Peach turn around and try to figure out where they could find something to disable the force field in their way, Bowser quietly thought to himself out loud.

"Gwa ha ha ha! They fell for it! Now, I just need to wait for the opportune moment, and then…BAM! Good-bye, Mario, and hello, Princess!"

"Eh? Were you saying something, Bowser?" Luigi asked.

"Uh, no. I was, uh, sneezing. It's cold up here. What did you expect?" said Bowser.

"Um, never mind."


End file.
